Following a very gruelling day’s training on Tuesday, Wednesday looked on paper somewhat easier for the players and coaches.
It’s very easy for me to say that as a bystander, but I’m sure it came as a partial relief to many.
The facilities that we have been able to avail ourselves of have been first class being at the Portuguese FA’s headquarters (their equivalent to our St George’s Park) known as Cidade do Futebol or City of Football, which is in the shadow of their national stadium.
The day itself started with a good number of the coaching staff embarking on a choice of 3km or 5km runs, culminating in a swim from the nearby beach at 7.15am.
The other option, which I took, was a 10-minute walk to join them for the swim. We had done similar prior to the final away match of last season in Bournemouth. But the lure of the Atlantic Ocean off Portugal’s coastline appeared somewhat more alluring than a dip in the English Channel. Either way it was just as cold, but very invigorating. It certainly beats an ice bath!
At the training ground a couple of hours later, with the heat burning down on our heroes, it was much the same as the previous day inasmuch as it started with medical prep followed by gym work, before the coaching staff led by Thomas started to weave their magic. However, being the day before a match, there was just the one, albeit lengthy, training session.
In the afternoon the players and staff were given time to themselves to, in the main, walk the short distance into town for a coffee or similar.
Later that evening I had the distinct pleasure to meet up with a good number of Bees fans at a bar in the very heart of Lisbon, together with Nathan Collins and Kris Ajer. The two of them thoroughly enjoyed the interaction with the fans.
The evening had been arranged by Megan Bespolka, our international marketing manager, in the same way as those we held in Washington, Philadelphia and Atlanta last year. They always prove to be extremely popular.
I had never been to Lisbon before so to get the opportunity to go to the heart of the city on Wednesday evening was a real treat. It reminds me of San Francisco: traditional tiles and mosaics make up the streets, alleys and pavements everywhere you go.
There are so many similarities between the two places: cable cars, trams, very steep hills and even a full-size replica of the Golden Gate Bridge which links this beautiful city with the municipality of Almada.
As I said in my previous blog (just checking to see if you actually read it) I mentioned that Lisbon was built on seven hills. Another coincidence being that San Francisco was also, as indeed was Rome (thanks to kit man Bob for this pearl of wisdom).
Come Thursday the weather had cooled off partially with a bit of a breeze, which in turn brought to the fore the plumes of smoke from the nearby forest fires which have been raging just outside the town we are staying in, over the past few days.
Being a matchday there was no training as such, other than for the players who had just recently returned from international duty. For the players who had been selected for the prestigious friendly Thursday evening against Benfica, there was the final opportunity to go through a number of set-pieces etc.
Come 5.45pm it was time to depart for the match. With a journey time of around 40 minutes to the stadium we had a police escort throughout. From the moment we arrived at Estádio da Luz, you sensed it would be no normal friendly with fans arriving in numbers.
Looking back on the experience, it has to be one of the most prestigious pre-season friendlies we’ve ever played in. A feverish and partisan crowd in excess of 40,000 in a magnificent stadium, playing against one of the most respected and trophy-laden clubs in European football.
The experience for the whole team and in particular for the young B-team players who came on during the second half will live with them forever. When you consider three of them were playing against Sutton United at Wheatsheaf in front of a small crowd only last Saturday, the step up is immense and their collective performance further emphasised that the future of the club is in very good hands.
I could go on (not like me) enthusing about the experience but that’s for another day.
Friday was a very well-earned day off for everyone and options explored were such as golf at one of Portugal’s top courses, Oitavos Dunes. It’s a links course but with better weather than the other well-known links course Royal Troon where the recent rain sodden/wind swept British Open played out last week.
Others opted to go surfing off this beautiful coastline while a few decided that if it wasn’t hot enough already they wanted to don protective wear and helmets for go-karting!
I opted for a culture tour of Lisbon in the hope I could look smug when meeting any Benfica supporters of which there are countless thousands. Needless to say, I retained that smug look throughout. I also hoped to stumble across the Westfield Centre as mentioned in last Wednesday’s blog.
However, once again, and even more proudly than before… “Vamos, Abelhas!”